Sunday alcohol sales in Indiana could come even sooner than expected

Expanding cold beer sales and allowing retail sales of alcohol on Sundays are something many Indiana residents have long wanted and an issue that could be gaining traction. But a complex set of forces has kept that from happening.
Dwight Adams/IndyStar

Sunday carryout alcohol sales could come even sooner than expected after a House committee moved up the effective date.

The House Public Policy Committee voted 9-1 in favor of a Senate bill that would allow grocery, drug, convenience and liquor stores to sell alcohol on Sundays from noon to 8 p.m.

Rep. Tim Wesco, a conservative Republican lawmaker from Goshen, was the only "no" vote.

The vote came after the committee changed the effective date from July 1 — the standard date when most new laws go into effect — to immediately upon passage.

Sen. Ron Alting, the bill's author, said he and the committee's chairman, Rep. Ben Smaltz, agreed to the change in advance of Wednesday's hearing on the measure.

"Why wait until July to provide more convenience for citizens?" Alting said.

The measure now moves to the full House, which has already approved an almost identical version of the bill. If approved there, a final Senate vote to concur with the change to the effective date would send the bill.

In other words, repeal of Indiana's Prohibition-era ban on Sunday carryout alcohol sales is now as close as two votes away from heading to Gov. Eric Holcomb's desk for final approval.

The measure's new effective date means that, if passed, Hoosiers could begin buying alcohol at stores on Sundays within a few weeks and by late March at the latest. Those following the Indianapolis 500 on radio or television in May, for example, could pick up a six pack of beer on race day.

This year's support for the Sunday sales measure — which has failed to pass for years — is widely attributed to an unlikely alliance between liquor stores and the state's retail council, which represents grocers, chain pharmacies and big-box stores.

Under the deal, both groups are supporting Sunday sales while opposing expanded cold beer sales. The arrangement was made as liquor stores were facing increasing public pressure to relinquish their control of cold beer sales, which they say is crucial to the survival of their stores.